HOW TO UNPACK A DEBIAN SOURCE PACKAGE
There are two kinds of Debian source packages: old ones and new ones.
A. Old ones look like this:
hello-1.3-4.tar.gz
hello-1.3-4.diff.gz
You unpack them by untarring the .tar.gz. There is NO need to apply
the diff.
B. New ones look like this:
hello_1.3-11.dsc
hello_1.3-11.diff.gz
hello_1.3-11.orig.tar.gz - note the `.orig' part
Here you MUST use dpkg-source or apply the diff manually - see below.
If you have `dpkg-source' you should put the files in the same
directory and type `dpkg-source -x .dsc'.
If you do not you can extract the Debian source as follows:
1. untar P_V.orig.tar.gz.
2. rename the resulting P-V.orig directory to P-V. If some other
directory results, rename *it* to P-V.
3. mkdir P-V/debian.
4. apply the diff with patch -p0.
5. do `chmod +x P-V/debian/rules'
(where P is the package name and V the version.)
C. There are some packages where the Debian source is the upstream
source. In this case there will be no .diff.gz and you can just use
the .tar.gz. If a .dsc is provided you can use `dpkg-source -x'.
-- Ian Jackson Sat, 31 Aug 1996